In a disturbing murder case Italian viewers helped solve via a popular TV show, Rexal Ford, aka Francis Kaufman, 47, learned his fate on Thursday

NEED TO KNOW

• The naked bodies of a mother and baby daughter were found decaying in a popular park in Rome, Italy, in June 2025
• Unable to identify the two, police turned to a popular weekly TV show, “Who Has Seen Him,” with viewers providing important leads and information
• California man Rexal Ford, 47, whose name was Francis Kaufman before he changed it, was convicted of killing them on Nov. 5, 2026

A California man with a slew of aliases was sentenced to life in prison for murdering his girlfriend and their baby and dumping their remains in a park in Rome.

The mystery surrounding the murders of Anastasia Trofimova, 28, and her 11-month-old daughter Andromeda, riveted Italy for more than a year, with the public helping to solve the case when it was featured on the popular weekly television show “Chi l’ha Visto,” or “Who Has Seen Him,” The New York Times reports.

On Thursday, Nov. 5, an Italian court found Rexal Ford, 47, whose name was Francis Kaufman before he changed it, guilty of double homicide and concealment of a corpse in connection with the 2025 death of his Russian girlfriend and their baby daughter, Reuters, CNN and The New York Times report.

Trofimova was killed several days before the baby. Their decomposing bodies were found hours apart and several hundred meters away from each other in a popular park in Rome on June 7, 2025, police said at the time.

Immediately after being found guilty in Rome’s Court d’Assise, a judge sentenced Ford to life in prison, including three years of solitary confinement during the day, per Reuters.

On Thursday, Ford’s attorney said prosecutors had no concrete evidence that his client, who had pleaded not guilty, killed his girlfriend and their baby.

“This is a trial based on circumstantial evidence, and circumstantial evidence is not proof,” his attorney, Paolo Foti, said in court, per Reuters.

Ford’s lawyer said they would likely appeal the verdict, CNN reports.

The shocking crime came to light when the naked, decaying remains of the mother and her baby were found in Rome’s Villa Pamphili park.

Trofimova’s body was found under a black bag, Rome Chief Prosecutor Francesco Lo Voi said in 2025, per Italian news outlets L’Unione Sarda, Il Messaggero and Corriere della Sera.

Video surveillance and accounts from witnesses revealed that Ford, Trofimova and their child had been spotted together on several occasions, per Corriere della Sera. 

Once seen arguing with Trofimova in the street, police took down Ford’s information, which later led to his arrest, officials said.

Police were able to identify Trofimova by cross-referencing footage of them at a soup kitchen near the Vatican as well as witnesses who were in the park, the Italian outlet reported.

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Authorities were able to track down Ford because he left fingerprints on the bag that was found on Trofimova, CBS reported. 

Ford killed Trofimova first, in early June, prosecutors said.

He was later seen on CCTV footage carrying the 11-month-old towards the park, returning around an hour later without her, prosecutors said, Reuters reports.

Trofimova and her daughter were identified with help from “Who Has Seen Him” viewers, who called in to the show with information, The New York Times reports.

Trofimova and Ford met in Malta in 2022, CNN reports.

After their daughter was born in June 2024, the couple moved to Rome.

Ford had many aliases and said he was a film producer.

He left Italy soon after and was arrested on the Greek island of Skiathos through cellphone data. 

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